How To Plan a DA Meeting
by Ocher Eyes
Summary: Set in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.  There is a lot of planning to be made to make sure that Dumbledore's Army meetings run smoothly.  Here's how Hermione did it.
1. Chapter 1

_Disclaimer- All characters, plots and setting belong to their respected owner, JK Rowling. I am just playing with the Harry Potter universe, and promise to return it back to normal when I'm done._

**Chapter One**

By Ocher Eyes

Ron and I sat in the common room and watched the crackling fire in the magnificent stone fireplace slowly dwindle away as the hours of the night passed. We were waiting for Harry to complete his detention with Professor Umbridge, with a bowl of pickled Murtlap tentacle solution for his hand. My mind was filled with hatred towards that Umbridge woman for what she was doing to Harry, and I could see Ron fuming beside me- obviously his mind was on the same track as mine.

Harry had earned another night's worth of detention from Umbridge this afternoon in Care of Magical Creatures class. I can understand why he was mouthing off towards her; he's just trying to prove his point. Ron and I know that Harry is not seeking attention when he has his outbursts, and I am beginning to feel a bit of sympathy for him.

"Why did it have to be in our OWL year?" Ron moaned helplessly, his face hidden by an arm of the squashy armchair from me.

"Why did _what_ have to happen, Ron?" I asked keeping my eyes focused on the knitting needles hovering above my lap.

"Why did we have to have this Umbridge witch teach us Defense against the Dark Arts this year? She won't even let us touch our wands in class. What the hell are we learning right now, anyways!?" He sank out of the chair and landed in a pathetic pile on the carpet.

I sighed. Ron was right. I was the first to pick up that it is not in our curriculum this year to actually practice defensive magic, but we were still expected to do spells for our OWLs test at the end of this year. I could understand why Ron was worried about that. How are we supposed to correctly perform spells we've never practiced?

"Well, Harry has nothing to worry about there. He's so good at Defense against the Dark Arts. It'll be so simple for him, since he's done all of that stuff before…" Ron mumbled and looked into the fire with frown on his face.

Crookshanks crept out from under one of the chairs on the other side of room and made his way over to where Ron and I were. Ron, who was lying on his stomach, rolled over onto his back and sat up, eyeing Crookshanks. My ginger cat rubbed up against Ron's arm and Ron began scratching him behind the ears. The only noise was Crookshank's purrs and the occasional "pop" from the fire for a couple of minutes as Ron and I got wrapped up in our own silent thoughts.

Suddenly, like a bolt of lightning hit Ron in the butt, he jumped to his feet and stared at me. "What…" I started uneasily.

"Harry!"

"Sorry?" I asked him in confusion, considering Harry wasn't present at the moment.

"No no, Hermione." Ron said rolling his eyes. "Harry's really good at Defensive against the Dark Arts!"

"I still don't follow you Ron…"

"Harry could teach us how to defend ourselves! He could be our teacher instead of that Umbridge hag!"

"Ron, that's completely ridiculous…" I said, but then considered the possibilities. I stood up from my armchair and waved away my knitting needles. Harry had more experience than most of our previous Defense teachers, and could show us how to perform the spells that he has found helpful.

"Think about it, Hermione!"

"I am, I am… we could make a study group, or a club that's open to anyone who wants to learn how to _really _defend themselves against what's _really_ out there. Harry could show us what he did when he was in those tight situations. Ron, this is BRILLIANT!"

Ron beamed, obviously pleased with himself.

"That's only _IF_ Harry's willing to teach us." I added.

"Oh yeah… he'd never go for it."

"And both of you are so far behind on your homework already. It's not like you two need to be part of club on top of that." I scowled at Ron. Really, he should be doing some homework right now, but I refused to let him copy mine, so he gave up on the idea.

"If we just lightly asked him if he'd do it-"

"Without forcing him-"

"So that he won't blow up in our faces-"

"Like a raging volcano, you mean?"

"Exactly." I said. "We should just ask him to consider the idea of teaching a small group of us how to properly defend ourselves. That's all."

Ron nodded and looked at the watch on his freckled wrist. "He's got to be on his way back by now, it's almost midnight."

And with a loud squeak from the portrait hole opening, Harry stepped into the Gryffindor common room with a glum look on his face and a bloody scrap of material wound around his hand.

"Ready?" Ron whispered in my ear.

"Yes. Hopefully he'll listen to us." I whispered back, as I smiled warmly and held out the bowl of yellow liquid for Harry.

I waited two whole weeks before I breached the subject with Harry again. Against Ron and my hopes, Harry had made quite an uproar with our suggestion of him teaching us how to defend ourselves properly that night. To me, it seemed that Harry thought that he would make an inadequate teacher for us, but I know that Harry is a natural born leader.

Snape had just assigned us a particularly nasty essay to complete that day, and the three of us were looking up ingredients in a little nook in the library. I decided that we had nothing to lose, so I asked Harry if he had given any thought into our plan out of the blue, as I opened up a large dusty book titled _Grade Five Common Potion Ingredients and Where to Find Them._

And by the end of the conversation, Harry had agreed to make a meeting for anyone who was interested in joining the club. Ron seemed very excited.

But, watching Professor Umbridge carefully for a couple of weeks now has given me the impression that she would be _very _against the idea of forming a club to practice defensive magic. I cautioned both boys not to tell people what we're doing yet, and to keep their mouths shut.

We will have to pick the members of our club very carefully indeed if we were planning to meet in secret. Only people who we can trust and who will be loyal will be able to join. This will take some serious planning, and it doesn't seem like Ron or Harry have the spare time to help me do this.

_Sigh._


	2. Chapter 2

_Disclaimer- All characters, plots and setting belong to their respected owner, JK Rowling. I am just playing with the Harry Potter universe, and promise to return it back to normal when I'm done._

**Chapter Two**

By Ocher Eyes

With my back against the cold stone frame of the window, I sat with my best quill and a scroll of parchment at my feet. I idly looked out the window and only saw the tops of the trees in the Forbidden Forest and Hagrid's deserted hut. I looked back longingly at my four-poster bed; I was chilled to the bone in my light pajamas.

Since Harry had finally given me his consent that he'd be willing to teach a small group how to properly defend themselves, I had to decide who to tell to come to our meetings. Obviously anyone in Slytherin was out of the question, but we couldn't just invite Gryffindors to join. I thought about what the Sorting Hat had mentioned at the beginning of term- _"We must unite inside her [Hogwarts or we'll crumble from within."_ This club may be a good chance to unite three of the four Houses together, meet new people, and do something good for our education behind the Ministry's back.

I picked up the quill and parchment and rested them on my thighs. With a sigh, I looked around the dark dormitory. Crookshanks was huddled in a large ginger ball at the feet of my bed, and Lavender Brown's snores quietly echoed throughout the room.

In my best writing, I dipped my quill in the ink bottle and titled the paper Suitable Members for Defense Meeting. Automatically putting mine and Ron's name underneath, and added Lavender's. With another glance around the room, I also wrote Pavarti Patil's name on the list. And if we were lucky, Pavarti may be able to convince her sister Padma from Ravenclaw to come as well.

With a smile, I wrote down Ron's brother's names Fred and George Weasly. Anything that is close to breaking a rule or has a possibility for getting them in trouble would surely appeal to the twins.

I also remembered Ginny Weasly, and wrote her name with a flourish. Ginny will also probably have a small gang of people she will want to bring along as well… such as Michael Corner perhaps. I scandalously wrote his name under Ginny's on the yellowed parchment.

_Who else in Gryffindor would be interested…_ I thought, lightly brushing the tip of the quill against my cheeks and over my lips. Dean and Neville would probably like to come, so I added their names to the list. Same with the Creevey brothers, Denis and Colin. Those two would most likely throw themselves off a cliff if Harry told them to.

A violent, cold shiver ran up my spine, and I quickly stood up. I walked over to my bed and ripped the top cover off the sheets, followed by an angry hiss from my cat. I rubbed Chrookshanks on his squashy head a couple of times before I wrapped the blanket around my shoulders like a cloak and settled myself back down by the window.

With the faint light from the moon, I could make out half of the Quidditch pitch far out on the grounds. I stared at the three golden hoops near the end of the pitch and remembered the three girls on the Gryffindor Quidditch team. Alicia Spinnet, Katie Bell, and Angelina Johnson. I wrote their names down at the end of the list as well, and knew that they would love to be part of this. As long as it didn't interfere with their Quidditch practices they'd probably like to come.

Harry, Ron and I also had classes with Justin Finch-Fletchley, Ernie MacMillan, and Hannah Abbot. We've always been pretty friendly with them, and it'd be good if they came.

An of course, I could guess that Cho Chang would be _very_ interested to join our club. The way that Harry stares at her when she passes him in the halls is so obvious. I shook my head and smiled to myself. Poor Cho though, she still seems pretty shaken about Cedric's death. Lavender told me yesterday that she walked into the bathroom at dinner and found her crying her eyes out in one of the stalls. Maybe if she wanted to come to our meetings, it would take her mind off things… and put it on Harry. I politely wrote her name down.

I thought hard about if I had missed anyone for a moment, but couldn't think of any more names to add. I'll run this list by Ron tomorrow morning, I decided, and I'll see if he can think of anyone else that might be interested. I rolled up the piece of parchment and placed it carefully with the quill and ink bottle in the trunk at the end of my bed. I untangled myself from the blanket and threw it back across my bed. I crawled under the chilled sheets quietly- not wanting to wake any of the other girls up, and waited for drowsiness to settle in my eyes.

oOoOoOo

I conveniently found Ron sitting on his own in the Great Hall munching on a bowl of cereal, as I walked towards him. I had my bookbag slung over the shoulder of my robes, which I flung down to the ground as I sat myself down on the wooden bench beside Ron. He looked up at me with a smile.

"Gu-mornigd Hurmyonie," he said to me with a large mouthful of cereal.

"Good morning to you too, Ron… I guess."

With a great gulp, a quick look of pain crossed over his face as he swallowed. I reached down into my bag and pulled out the list of people's names I had made last night, and took out my quill.

"Here, look over this. I made it last night, and I was wondering if there was anyone I missed."

Ron put down his spoon and took the list from my hand with a look of interest on his features. I leaned over his shoulder to reread the list with him.

**Suitable Members for Defense Meeting**

_**Ronald Weasly**_

_**Hermione Granger**_

_**Lavender Brown**_

_**Pavarti Patil**_

_**Padma Patil**_

_**Fred Weasly**_

_**George Weasly**_

_**Ginny Weasly**_

_**Michael Corner**_

_**Dean Thomas**_

_**Neville Longbottom**_

_**Denis Creevey**_

_**Colin Creevey**_

_**Alicia Spinnet**_

_**Katie Bell**_

_**Angelina Johnson**_

_**Justin Finch-Fletchley**_

_**Ernie MacMillan**_

_**Hannah Abbot**_

_**Cho Chang**_

I watched his face carefully as he finished reading my list. He seemed to linger on some names, but considered them more carefully.

"Just one question, Hermione."

"Shoot."

"Why the bloody hell is that git Michael on here?" Ron asked and roughly poked the name.

I couldn't actually tell Ron why I had written his name down. I had promised Ginny that I would not to tell anyone over the summer. She was a smart girl, and knew that Ron would not take the news of her first boyfriend very well. So instead I said, "He just seems like a nice guy, Ron."

He dropped the subject then.

"I can think of a couple more." He said.

"Oh, alright. Hang on a sec." I said as I dug through my bag trying to find a bottle of ink. My hand finally found one and I pulled it out, and dipped my quill in it. "Who's next?"

"Well, Lee Jordan will definatly want to come. Especially if Angelina's going." Ron said, with an impish grin.

"Yes, you're right." I scribbled his name down

**_Lee Jordan_**

"Anyone else?"

"Well, not it would make that much of a difference or anything, but what about that wacko girl in Ravenclaw?

It took me a moment to understand who Ron was talking about, but then I realized he meant Luna Lovegood. "Do you really think she'd want to come?"

"Maybe, I dunno. Harry and Ginny sat with her all the way to Hogwarts on the train, remember?" Ron said, as he picked up his spoon again and dug back into his breakfast.

"Well, I'll add her, but you're asking her to join in person, not me."

"Fine." Ron said, but I got the impression that he wasn't really listening to me anymore. I quickly wrote down the last name.

_**Luna Lovegood**_

Carefully, I tucked the parchment back into my bag and packed up my quill and ink. I looked up at the ceiling; not a ray of sunshine today. But the weather didn't affect my mood, for I felt very happy knowing that we would soon have a _real_ defense lesson.


End file.
